Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Purchases 67,300 Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. lifted its position in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 67.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 167,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,300 shares during the quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $11,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth about $2,641,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth about $2,850,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 156,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,457,000 after purchasing an additional 45,904 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,343 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth about $556,000. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Lamb Weston

In other news, Director Charles A. Blixt acquired 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $75,900.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,611.50. This trade represents a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert A. Niblock acquired 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $60.94 per share, for a total transaction of $182,820.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. This trade represents a 12.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on LW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $50.07 on Tuesday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.49 and a twelve month high of $107.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.05 and its 200 day moving average is $67.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The company has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.72.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.35). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. Lamb Weston’s quarterly revenue was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.50%.

Lamb Weston Profile

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels.